


Paper Wonder

by TehAvengeh



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:50:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18904261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TehAvengeh/pseuds/TehAvengeh
Summary: A College AU where Sean and Daniel's dad never dies, Finn never goes to jail, and Finn and Sean can fall in love without any fear of running from the law.





	1. Prologue: A Memory

**Author's Note:**

> It has been nearly two years since I have last posted something on AO3. My writing is incredibly rusty because of it and I apologize in advance for it. But I ended up shipping these two way harder than I ever thought I could and I'm thirsty for some more content. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

“The cell service sucks here.” Sean groaned as he roughly stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He was currently sitting at a picnic table at some campground in Oregon, west of Portland. It had taken them almost four hours to get from their home in Seattle to here and he had to wonder why they had to drive so far just for a weekend camping trip.

“Cause we're in the woods, duh.” Daniel said from his seat on the other side of the table. Sean rolled his eyes and turned his head around to look at Daniel who had his tongue sticking out - Sean flipped him off and laughed when Daniel's smile dropped before he sputtered out that he was going to tell dad.

“If you do I'll tell him you ate two Choco-crisps in the car earlier instead of just one.” He replied smoothly.

“You wouldn't!” Daniel fired back, but the words lacked bite and he squirmed a little in his seat. Clearly nervous about having been caught.

“Try me.” Sean said, not breaking eye contact with Daniel. In turn, Daniel did his best to keep the contest going before he eventually gave up with a whine and dropped his gaze down in defeat.

“Alright,” a voice called and Sean and Daniel turned their attention to their Dad, who was approaching them with a smile, “We're all checked in and we can set up camp in camp ground C!”

Daniel shot up with an excited cheer, running to his dad while Sean got up at his own pace. He grabbed both his and Daniel's backpacks before joining the other two and tossed Daniel's bag into his arms. It was caught with an indignant “hey!

Esteban just laughed amiably and pulled Daniel into his side and just like that the three made their way to their campground.

* * *

 

The following morning Sean woke up with a groan. His dad was snoring loud enough to shake the tent and Sean grunted quietly as he sat up. His back was killing him - he definitely was not used to sleeping on the ground.

“Daniel?” He groggily asked, eyeballing the sleeping bag next to him that looked too flat for Daniel to be curled up in there.

‘He must be playing outside’ he thought as he yawned and scratched the back of his head. He shimmied his jeans on and then crammed his feet into his already tied shoes and made his way out of the tent.

Daniel was nowhere to be seen and Sean groaned once more - because of course Daniel had run off.  
He looked at his wrist watch - 8:32 - his dad probably wouldn't be up for a bit which meant he had the choice of waiting for Daniel to come back or going out and looking for him. The decision was a no brainer.

The real question really, was where could Daniel be?

He set off towards the jungle gym - the campgrounds here were pretty lavish, he'd give them that. They had a hotel, a restaurant (where they had ended up eating last night because Daniel had refused to eat the fish Dad had caught), a tennis court, a pool, etc.

There were a couple of kids already playing, but Daniel was not one of them. Okay, somewhere else then.

He could try the lake, but it was pretty far out… Then again that might be why he hadn't seen Daniel around anywhere else around the campgrounds.

“He better be there.” He muttered to himself as he started back the way he came so he could get to the lake.

* * *

Sean heard Daniel before he saw Daniel and figured by the talk of Hawt Dawg man that the boy had made a friend - which was good. He was annoyed with Daniel running off and not telling anyone but Daniel really didn't have any of his own friends. He might consider Lyla his best friend but Sean didn't think she counted since she was more his friend in the first place.

His fond smile for Daniel slowly slid off his face though when he turned the bend and saw Daniel with an older man - far younger than their father but still older than Sean himself.

“Daniel!” Sean called sharply, jogging to to Daniel's side and putting some space between Daniel and the stranger.

“I take it your big brother?” The guy asked lightly, he was smiling at Sean and had his hands raised in front of him as he took a step back from the two.

“Sean!” Daniel greeted, “This is my friend Finn! He’s going to teach me how to fish.”

“Daniel!” Sean snapped, ignoring the stranger for now and what Daniel was saying, “You can't just leave without telling anyone and what did dad tell you about talking to strangers?!”

“You're not the boss of me!” Daniel cried in protest, “I didn't do anything wrong!”

“Now now big bro,” Finn - that's what Daniel called him - stepped forward and motioned to himself with his hands, “It's my bad I shoulda made sure he was allowed to come to the lake.”

Sean liked to think of himself as a fairly non-judgemental person so he was a little ashamed of himself for assuming the worst but - he tried to justify to himself - most people would assume the worst when they saw a grown man hanging out with a nine year old.

“Come on Daniel, let’s go back.” Sean said, refusing to acknowledge the other guy. His command got an instant cry of shock from Daniel.

“You’re so unfair! I didn’t do anything wrong!” he cried.

Sean opened his mouth - prepared to list out the multitude of reasons why exactly Daniel was in the wrong - when Finn spoke up again.

“It’s cool little man, you should go back before your dad gets worried,” he said, seemingly not at all perturbed that Sean was acting like he was some child predator.

“But Finn!” Daniel said, he shot Sean one more fierce glare before he turned his attention to Finn.

“Nah, Big bro is right, you can’t be going off with no strangers. I’ll be around - maybe you can bring your dad with ya later and we can go fishing then.”

There was a beat of silence before Daniel muttered in agreement under his breath and it instantly pissed Sean off - because of course Daniel would sooner listen to some stranger than he would to him.

“Lets go Daniel,” Sean said, tugging his little brother by the arm as he did so.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Finn said to Sean - he genuinely did look sorry. He couldn’t be too much older than Sean himself. He could admit the guy probably wasn’t some creep, but he still should have known better than to hang out with some kid without making sure it was cool with another adult.

“Yeah,” was all he said in response before dragging Daniel away with him.

 

* * *

 

“He was already there.” Daniel muttered. They had been walking back to their camp in silence when Daniel finally spoke up.

“What?” Sean asked, looking down at Daniel. Daniel was looking anywhere but him. He always did that - turned away from Sean when he was upset with him.

“I said,” Daniel said, and he stressed each word as the fire in his spirit fanned awake, “He was already there. Finn isn't some bad guy who lured me away from camp. He was at the lake when I got there.”

“Really?” Sean asked, coming to a stop so he could look at Daniel's face - he was used to Daniel lying to him all the time. Fortunately for him, that also meant he had gotten used to being able to tell the difference between Daniel’s lying face and his genuine one.

“Yes.” Daniel said - looking him head on. So he was telling the truth then.

“You weren't very interested in fishing yesterday. Why the sudden interest now then?” Sean asked, a bit curious.

Daniel lit up at the question.

“He caught a fish with his hands! It was so cool! When I asked him to teach me he said sure. But you showed up before he could.” The latter half of the sentence was said with disappointment and Sean frowned. Maybe he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. He should have asked the guy - no, Finn - what was up instead of just trying to run away with Daniel as fast as he could.

‘He could have defended himself.’ Sean tried reasoning with himself, but he knew it wouldn't have worked. No matter what he said it would have sounded like an excuse.

‘Shit,’ he thought to himself, ‘I kind of feel bad now.’

“Sorry enano.” He said. And he was.  
\--  
When they got back to camp, Esteban was frying up some eggs in a cast iron pan on the fire.

“There’re my two favorite boys. Where’d you run off to?” he asked, smiling as they approached.

“I,” Sean said, finally releasing Daniel, “was out looking for Daniel.”

“I was just by the lake! I didn’t do anything wrong!” as always, Daniel was quick to defend himself.

Estaban frowned at the two boys before leveling his gaze with Daniel’s own, “I know I let you explore the neighborhood on your own and I let you go to the playground on your own yesterday too, but the Lake can be dangerous without a grown up watching. You should have woken me up.”

Daniel frowned, looking first at Sean and then at his dad, “I'm sorry. I won't do it again.”

“Good!” Esteban said, clapping his hands as he did so, “Alright, breakfast is ready. Sean get some plates. Daniel come help me serve it up!”

Times like these Sean wished his dad could be a bit more strict with Daniel, like he was with Sean... but he didn't want to start an argument out here by saying something. Instead, he sighed and went to the tent to dig out some paper plates.

He was ready for this weekend to be over.

 

* * *

 

They ended up not seeing Finn again the rest of the weekend, something Daniel brought up several times.

Sean found he almost wished they had so he could apologize. It wasn't cool of him to judge someone like that.

Despite that though the rest of the weekend went quickly and Sean had even gotten a couple of awesome sketches - lots of trees, his dad, and a great one of Daniel trying and failing to catch fish by hand. And the sketch he did of Finn, from memory, well he'd just pretend he hadn't.

After the trip, Daniel had forgotten Finn pretty quickly and Sean almost just as fast. He'd filled up the sketchbook he had used back then and he couldn't remember the last time he had flipped through that book.

Now eighteen, Sean found himself in the passenger seat of his Dad's car, Daniel snoozing away in the back seat as they made the ten hour drive to the college of his dreams in California.

He wasn't one hundred percent sure on what he was going to be doing, but he was going for art, he knew that much at least.

He was going to miss his little wolf pack and Lyla for sure, but he was excited to broaden his horizons and meet other people with similar interests.

Lyla was great and his dad was supportive but there weren't many other kids interested in art like he was back home.

He couldn't wait. He didn't think he could even fathom all the possibilities that awaited him, but he felt like the opportunities would be endless.

He knew he should be prepared to expect the unexpected, but running into someone he had met briefly nearly ten years ago? Well he certainly hadn’t expected that.


	2. A Test

“Finally done!” Daniel cried, throwing himself onto Sean's new bed. They had just moved all of Sean's things from the car and into his new dorm room. It wasn't much as the room came furnished already but Sean's art supplies could get heavy and it was hot out.

“Are you sure you don't want to get a hotel tonight?” Sean was asking for the umpteenth time. His dad had just driven them ten hours one way after all. He couldn't imagine him driving back again so soon.

“If you can't afford it, I can use the graduation money grandma sent.” He offered.

Esteban just smiled at him, fondness for his son clearly written across his face.

“It's fine, really hijo.” His father put a placating hand on his shoulder when Sean opened his mouth to speak again.

“There is something you can do for me if you insist.” He said.

Sean didn't know what his dad could possibly ask him for, but he had given Sean everything he possibly could and for that Sean always wanted to pay him back.

“Sure thing dad.”

“Could you drive your brother and me to the airport?” He asked, a mischievous tone in his voice that had Sean concerned.

“But…” he began, confused. “What about your car?”

“It's not my car anymore.” His father said simply, as if it wasn't a big deal. As if he wasn't implying that he was giving away his car to Sean.

“Dad,” Sean said, voice trembling in a mix of excitement and the urge to cry, “No way. But what about you? Can you afford to? The plane was probably expensive and you'll need a car and--”

“It's fine, I've had the car in the garage fixed up for awhile now. And plane tickets cost a lot less than a car. I'm just sad I couldn't get you a new one.”

“No Dad, no it's perfect.” Sean croaked, his throat hurt and yup - here came the tears.”

“Thank you, so so much. You're so awesome. The best dad I could ever asked for.”

His dad just kept smiling easily, but Sean didn't miss the shine in his eyes as he held back tears of his own.

“I'm only giving it to you so you don't have any excuses not to come home for the holidays” Esteban said before pulling Sean into a hug and Sean wouldn't say anything about the tears soaking through the shoulder of his shirt and the quiet sniffles in his ear. If his dad wanted to play it cool he'd let him.

“Sean!” Daniel cried, throwing himself at his older brother. He was bawling too, “I'm gonna miss you so much!”

The three of them stood like that awhile longer, crying and hugging. It had always been the three of them and now their little pack was splitting apart.

“Alright,” his dad said a moment later, “Let's get some dinner and then Daniel and I've got a plane to catch.”

“My first plane ride.” Daniel said, almost dreamily.

“Sean I'm going to ride a plane before you” he added, sticking his tongue out at his brother who did the same back, before ruffling his hair and the gently shoving him back.

It would be awhile before he would get to do that again, he thought to himself. And Daniel must of thought the same because for the first time ever his little brother didn't cry out in protest like be usually did. Sean almost wished he had.

* * *

 

They had dinner at some small diner and then Esteban drove them all to the airport.

There were more tears in the car and then his dad and brother were leaving. His father didn't want him to spend money on parking seeing them off so he watched them enter the building before getting in the driver's seat of his dads, no - his, car and heading back to campus.

He had arrived before his roommate had earlier and he hoped the other guy would be there when he did.

Sean wasn't the greatest at making friends, he was pretty awkward if he was being honest with himself. Lyla was always the one who was good at talking and the friends he made in school were thanks to her. He just hoped his roommate was a cool guy.

Campus was different at night - more students milled about now than they had earlier but it was still several days before classes started so he supposed not everyone was here yet.

He couldn't wait to be settled in and sketch some of the scenery around campus. Eventually when he got used to the area he would branch out further but there was plenty of inspiration here already.

When he got back to his room a family of three were standing in his doorway - a man, a woman, and a little girl about Daniel's age.

"Make sure to call everyday!" The little girl was crying, and someone - presumably his new roommate - stepped out of the room and gave the girl a final hug.

"Of course!" He said and Sean smiled fondly at the scene.

"Well son, we best be getting out of here. I believe this young man here might be waiting to get into his room."

Sean almost jumped at being suddenly addressed and he smiled in what he hoped was polite and not awkward.

"Oh please don't… hurry on my part." He offered lamely and the woman ushered her little girl to her side and offered Sean a warm smile.

"It's quite alright, we were just leaving. I presume you're staying in room 217 with my son?"

"Ah, yeah. I just dropped my family off at the airport but I just got here today as well. I'm Sean Diaz. It's nice to meet you ma'am." He added ma'am as an afterthought.

"Thank you Sean. This is my daughter Sarah and my son Jacob."

Sarah waved at him shyly and Sean waved back, "It was nice meeting you Sarah."

He turned to Jacob and gave him a wave as well, "It's cool to finally meet you Jacob."

"Likewise Sean." Jacob slipped past his mom and sister and put his hand of for Sean to shake - he made sure to match Jacob's grip like his father always told him too.

"... okay… well I'll just head in and let you guys finish your goodbyes." Sean said. God he felt so awkward. He ducked his head in embarrassment and practically raced into his door, gently shutting the door behind him.

He only had about a minute of scolding himself for being so awkward when Jacob came back into the room.

"I'm sorry about my parents." Jacob said, looking just as embarrassed as Sean felt himself.

"It's cool man." He said - he meant it too.

"My parents can be a bit…" Jacob trailed off and the pair lapsed into silence.

Sean couldn't tell if he was the one who had made things awkward or if Jacob had…

'Alright man, say something. You can do this. You gotta share a room with this guy for a whole semester don't ruin it.' Sean told himself, trying to sound more pepped up than be felt. God, he should have asked Lyla for some advice on making good first impressions.

"Sorry…" Sean eventually said, "my best friend says I can be a bit introvert."

'Way to go Sean, cause that'll make him want to be your friend.' He scolded himself.

But Jacob seemed to perk up at his words

"Yeah my sister says the same thing about me. She's all into those personality tests… says I'm like… an I-N-… something or other I don't really remember."

Sean laughed, "Yeah my friend - her name is Lyla - made me do the same test. I only remember the introvert part."

"Your sister… how old is she? I have a little brother - he's eleven but he thinks he's an adult."

"Sarah is the same age. And she thinks she's all grown up too. What's your brothers name?"

And just like that the two fell into a comfortable conversation - they seemed to have a good bit in common and for that Sean was thankful.

* * *

 

After talking the two of them decided to go explore campus some since the night was still young. So far Jacob seemed to be a cool dude - he was a religion and philosophy major but wasn't too sure on if that was the path he wanted to follow. Sean couldn't blame him - sometimes it was hard to tell if you were following the path you wanted or just the one that was laid out in front of you.

Currently they were headed to the student cafe, having already walked the grounds. If it weren't for Jacob, Sean was sure he would have gotten lost by now.

The student cafe was cozy, colorful signs were posted on bulletin boards, clubs promoting themselves, weekly deals, trivia night, anything and everything was advertised. It didn't seem to he too crowded but Sean had a feeling that when the school year actually started it would be a lot more packed.

The order board was written in chalk, lots of different colors and cute little drawings caught his eye. The whole place smelled like coffee - so many espresso shots had probably been ordered here.

A guitar could be heard being strummed and a soft voice sang along, it wasn't loud - and wasn't coming from the overhead speakers, it was inviting but not overwhelming.

Sean and Jacob made their way to the front counter, Sean's eyes darting between the menu and the direction the music was coming from.

"What are you going to order Sean?" Jacob asked and Sean focused his attention on the menu board.

"The uh… Cosmic Cocoa Coffee I think… It sounds like it's a mocha maybe?"

Sean honestly wasn't too sure.

"Yeah I think I'm going to try the Powerpuff Girl."

"What… what even is that?"

"It's the house blend I think… or sugar, spice, and everything nice."

"What do you think 'everything nice' is?"

"I honestly have no idea."

With that final comment they went up to order their drinks. They came out relatively quickly, something Sean once again attributed to the fact is wasn't very busy at the moment, and then went to pick a table.

"She has a lovely voice." Jacob commented as they took a seat relatively close to the source of the music - a girl with purple dreads who sat at one of the tables strumming at her guitar. She wasn't at the stage towards the back of the cafe but instead just sitting amongst the customers.

"Yeah, she does." Sean agreed, watching the girl play. He wished he could be that brave - to show his talent to others. Despite all the encouragement from his art teachers in school and from his family and Lyla and even the fact that his art got him into college, he seriously lacked the confidence to showcase his work.

Sure, this girl wasn't on stage performing, but her private performance amongst the few other people here felt oddly intimate. It wasn't like she was showing off, and more like she felt more at ease playing her guitar and singing her song. Sean could relate - he felt better in social situations when be could draw. He tended not to though, unless he knew he was with people who weren't interested in seeing what he was drawing. He knew it was silly, and Lyla had always encouraged him to show off, but his art was a part of him. It was too intimate to show his sketches to just anyone. He had no problem doing art assignments, or making pieces for showcases but that was different. Different because he went in knowing what he wanted to show people. With his sketches, it was less than what he wanted to show the world and more of what he was feeling.

The song the girl was playing, he had never heard before, but her soft pauses and the way she seemed to look up in thought before the next verse had him believing she was making it up right there in the moment. It was amazing. If someone tried looking over his shoulder while he sketched he always stopped drawing, far too embarrassed to continue. He wished he could be as brave as this girl.

"Go on and say hi to her then if your gonna stare so hard - Cassidy don't bite." A voice suddenly drawled to his left and Sean flinched in surprise, smacking his knee against the table as he did so and sending his drink toppling towards the edge.

"Shoot!" The person said, Sean turning his head towards him as a hand settled against his back and another one smoothly cupped his drink - saving Sean the embarrassment of having to request a rag to clean up what surely would have been a mess.

"I didn't mean to scare ya sweetheart." They continued.

"No it's alright." Sean said, finally making eye contact with the other guy. He found himself freezing. He had the oddest feeling he had scene this guy before but at the same time knew he surely couldn't have. He liked to think be would remember a guy with face tattoos and dreads.

"Is everything okay?" Jacob piped up, having watched the entire exchange timidly from the other side of the table.

Sean didn't answer at first - still trying to place the face in front of him. The guy seemed to be looking back at him just as intensely, if not more so.

"... Yeah… it's cool." Sean said after a moment. The guys hand was still on his back, the other one still on his cup or coffee and it was almost as if he was being caged in. There was space between them but Sean still felt as if he was pinned to the wall. It was odd because he didn't feel uncomfortable or trapped though.

"Sorry 'bout that." The guy said, hand lingering against his back before he backed up and gave Sean his space back.

"It's cool." Sean said in reply, before internally hating himself for saying the same thing twice.

There seemed to be something in the air that Sean couldn't place - it was almost unpalatable but it wasn't bad despite that. He felt like maybe be had swallowed syrup, everything seemed sticky and sweet and he found himself struggling to speak.

"You…" the guy said, eyed searching his face as be did so. It felt like he stared at him forever and despite the scrutinizing Sean didn't feel small under his gaze. Whatever he was looking for, Sean didn't think he had found it. Because the look of wonder on his face has faded and the stranger instead smiled at him warmly. Sean felt himself smiling back.

"I'm Finn. It's good to meet you…"

"Sean. I'm Sean."

* * *

 

Finn, as it turned out, had been friends with Cassidy - the girl who had playing her song. He has come in and gotten a drink when he saw Sean and Jacob watching the girls performance and had decided to talk to them. Cassidy absolutely loved having people surrounding her as she played - she liked that campfire feel. So Finn has invited the two to join the small group around Cassidy. It had been a guy named Penny and a girl named Hannah that bad been sitting with Cassidy as she played and the four plus Finn were all good friends.

Sean got the feeling Hannah didn't like him too much, but he figured it was because of how shy he was. He did better when others led the conversation so he could just respond here and there. Hannah hadn't really prompted him to talk to her and so he hadn't

Penny was a… wild dude. He was super into conspiracy theories - Sean had known a few things about cryptids and what not but Penny had come out with theories Sean couldn't even fathom. He doubted he believed them but it was easy to get sucked down that hole - Penny was pretty damn convincing.

Cassidy talked nothing like she sang and the contrast between her soft singing voice and her loud Texan drawl had thrown Sean for a loop. Accents could be a hell of a thing. Sean felt like of the group she and him has the most in common - he felt like they held a bit of a bond with their abilities in the arts.

All of them were juniors and had promised to show Jacob and him all the ropes around campus. It was pretty sweet.

Finn hadn't spoken much while they all hung out together and Sean got the feeling he was a bit of a people watcher. He would offer his input every once in awhile, seeing to be participating and listening to all the different conversations that they were having. Sean could barely keep up with one conversation let alone three.

"Can I get your number little Sean?" Finn asked as the group dispersed, "I'll text ya before we head to breakfast tomorrow. I'm going to show you the path in the breakfast bar to get the ultimate fine dining experience."

One thing Sean had noticed about Finn, was how much the other guy spoke with his hands. Sean sort of liked it - it made him much more engaging than he already was. Sean was the type to have his hands in his pockets or his arms crossed when he spoke - unintentionally putting space between him and those around him. But Finn had this way about him - he was so open and kind it was hard not to be pulled in by him.

Sean laughed and pulled his phone from his hoodie pocket, "Sure."

They exchanged numbers and said their goodbyes - he noticed Finn had named him 'sweetheart' in his phone. Finn called everyone sweetheart though, so he sure hoped he wasn't also naming everyone in his phone that.

He was a few steps away when Finn called out to him.

"And Sean?" He called and Sean stopped, turning to look at him. His normally easy smile seemed to be gone and his gaze was intense instead of fluttering about between faces like it had been earlier.

"I'm glad we met. Seriously glad."

Sean smiled, was that all? Finn sounded so serious that Sean had almost been scared for a moment.

"Me too dude. It's been great."

Finn stared a moment longer before ducking his head a bit in response, "See ya around." He said and then hurried away.

Sean hesitated a moment, before jogging up to Jacob who was waiting for him a ways away so they could head back to their dorm together.

He felt like… maybe Finn had something else to say. Like he had something on the tip of his tongue but kept biting it back.

'Is it because he seemed familiar to me before?' He wondered. It shouldn't be a big deal, but Sean somehow felt like he had failed some test. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure what the final rating will be, so for now I just marked it mature. 
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it, I'd really appreciate it. :)


End file.
